


Which Base Are We On Again?

by kenshincha



Category: The Eagle | Eagle of the Ninth (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Time, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-16
Updated: 2012-10-16
Packaged: 2017-11-16 11:07:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/538775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenshincha/pseuds/kenshincha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marcus has a habit of not wearing a shirt in their dorm room; Esca has a habit of staring at him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Which Base Are We On Again?

**Author's Note:**

> Done for the [eagle_exchange](http://http://eagle_exchange.livejournal.com) for skysthelimit_7. I had a lot of fun writing this since I love AUs as well. I tried to encorporate as many of your kinks as I could. I hope you enjoy it! Beta-ed by the ever patient marlee813.
> 
> Also posted on LJ [here](http://kenshincha.livejournal.com/15781.html).

Esca's head snapped over to the microwave clock when he heard the set of keys jingle on the other side of the door. He'd lost track of time reading up for his 16th and 17th century Italian art history class. Only that metal eagle trinket made that sound so there was no hoping it was just some drunken peer trying to get into their room by accident.

Esca resolutely looked down at Carvaggio's Bacchus. Though it was a beautiful painting, it couldn't compare to the man walking through the door.

Marcus gave a relieved moan, probably from the air conditioner hitting his skin. Esca could see he wasn't wearing a shirt again, the practice baseball shirt most likely stuffed into his duffel. Marcus was a big guy, his tanned chest and abs were a testament to his active lifestyle. Broad shoulders, broad chest, thin waist, arms that could probably lift Esca up one at a time. Sometimes Esca wondered if his roommate was human or a moving statue of a god.

"Hey," Marcus greeted as he walked into the kitchen area and dumped his bag onto the chair across from Esca at the kitchen table. He could smell Marcus' cooling sweat as he walked around the table, first for a glass and then to the fridge to get the Brita pitcher.

If it wouldn't make him look like an idiot, Esca would have literally pressed his nose into the spine of the book so he couldn't smell the sweat anymore. Damn did he wish that it was because Marcus reeked.

Fuck it. He did it anyway, the fresh smell of book filling his nostrils and giving him a chance to think. He chanced a look at Marcus, who was chugging his glass of water. Esca stared at his throat for a moment. "Must have been a successful practice," he said, his voice muffled by the book. "You stink."

Marcus looked down at him and let out a breathy laugh at Esca peaking over his textbook that covered half his face like a veil. "Yeah, the game with the Tigers is coming up and Coach though we were getting too many errors and giving too many hits."

Esca put down his textbook. "I don't know what that means." He had never watched many sports. In fact the first and only game he'd ever been to was a baseball game to watch Marcus play. He learned to never do that again if he wanted his dignity intact. Luckily Esca had a baggy cardigan on that day.

"It means we were chasing balls all day," Marcus said.

Esca snorted. "Didn't realize it was that kind of sport."

Marcus grinned and put away the pitcher. He seemed to be favoring his right hand, but the left didn't look injured so Esca didn't comment. Marcus was usually sore after practice. "I've heard so many jokes from you about balls and sticks, I'm not even phased anymore."

"I'll have to go to more games. Learn up on baseball terms to expand my dirty repertoire."

"Are you going to?" Marcus asked, almost sounding hopeful.

Esca looked over to him. "What? Expand my dirty repertoire?"

"No, I meant come to more games."

Esca hesitated. He wanted to say 'no,' but Marcus looked too excited at the possibility that Esca might actually come to one of his games. "Yeah, sure."

"I could use some support at the rival game."

Marcus had a lot of support from most of the female student body, but Esca still nodded. "As long as I finish processing the pictures I need to for my photography project."

Marcus gave him a slap to his shoulder. "Great. I'm going to take a shower." He walked passed and went into the bathroom that sat in the little hallway that led to the bedroom.

When the shower turned on, Esca did not think about Marcus with water pouring over his head and trailing down his body, but his thoughts didn't stray too far from Marcus. Esca found himself always wondering if he would have changed rooms had he known that the first time he met Marcus would be indicative of the rest of their time as roommates.

Moving into the double in the junior dorm had been easy enough for Esca. He had gotten there early, as soon as you were allowed to move in. He'd gotten to the shared dorm room and was surprised to see his roommate had already moved in, but was no longer there. Esca unpacked and settled into his side of the bedroom. After sorting out all his clothing and finally managing to get the iffy Ethernet cables the university provided for Internet to work, he was still alone in the room. It was as Esca was leaving the dorm to go join his friends for supper when he ran into his roommate. Quite literally.

It had been like he tried to leave without opening the door. The solid bulk bounced him back and he would have fallen on his ass if not for the huge paws that grabbed his shoulders. Esca had looked up into an attractive surprised face before his eyes traveled down to his torso. The very naked, very sweaty torso.

Esca had found out later that he had been helping freshmen move into their rooms. Esca originally kept his distance, thinking Marcus was just a stupid jock, but it was really hard to do that when Marcus seemed bound and determined to make Esca like him. Esca would be lying if he said Marcus hadn't ended up a good friend. They usually hung out with different people, but they always had fun if they both happened to be hanging out in the room at the same time.

Of course, the fact that Marcus didn't seem to be fond of wearing shirts probably helped. Esca wasn't shallow, but it was tough not to be affected by it, especially since Marcus was such a likable guy anyway. Luckily Marcus never seemed to notice when Esca stared; Esca wasn't sure how Marcus would react to it.

There was a loud clatter of a bunch of things falling on the floor and a muffled curse from the bathroom. Esca craned his head to look at the door. It was quiet, the shower having been turned off without his notice. Esca rose and walked over, straining his ears for any noise that would indicate Marcus had fallen and was passed out on the tile. There was more clatter, which at least probably meant Marcus wasn't dead.

Esca rapped on the door with a knuckle. "Hey, Marcus. You okay?"

"Yeah," Marcus said before opening the door.

Esca could only stare at Marcus' chest, which was clean and dry except for drops of water traveling down from his still-wet hair to the towel wrapped around his hips. What he wouldn't give to trail his tongue between Marcus' muscles.

He finally snapped himself out of it, and froze, because this wasn't some quick peak; he was standing right in front of him, actively staring at his chest. He dared to look up into Marcus' face, which was looking down at him with amusement.

So, yes, Esca should have known Marcus wouldn't have cared that he was staring at his chest. He had known Marcus wasn't one of those guys who was fine with gays until they were looking his way, but Esca hadn't actually been a random guy on the street. He was a guy with ample opportunity to molest Marcus in his sleep. Not that he would ever think about it. Often.

"What were you doing?"

"I..." Marcus glanced down at his left hand. Esca's jaw dropped. It had ballooned. The wrist was swollen, bulging out on one side.

"Did you fall in the shower?" Esca suddenly felt horrible. Had he been so involved in his own thoughts, he missed Marcus falling?

"No," Marcus said quickly. "I lunged to catch a ball and landed on it wrong. It's just a sprained wrist."

Esca finally noticed the tan bandage in his other hand. "And you were trying to wrap it yourself?" he asked skeptically. Esca's first aid skills were abysmally limited, but he was pretty sure that was a bad idea.

"It was, uh, harder than I thought it was gonna be."

Esca rolled his eyes and snatched the bandage. "Go sit down. I'll wrap it for you."

Marcus slipped passed him and adjusted his towel before sitting down on the couch in the living room. Maybe Esca should have told him to change first, but it was too late now.

Esca wasn't sure what to do with himself a moment, but he walked over and sat down on the coffee table in front of Marcus, who held out his hand to Esca. Man, he had forgotten how big his hands were, even when they weren't swollen. "What do I do?"

Marcus leaned forward, and Esca couldn't help but do the same. "Start up here," he said, pointing at the middle of his forearm. "And wrap it until you get to the wrist."

Esca put the end down and started wrapping it.

Marcus winced. "Not that tight. I'd like to have some circulation in my hand," he joked.

"Sorry." Esca allowed some give and wrapped until the wrist.

"Alright, now put the bandage between my thumb and finger and wrap down again."

Esca held Marcus' hand, which looked even bigger compared to his own, and wrapped it as instructed. Then he repeated the process. "Perfect," Marcus murmured, and Esca could swear he felt Marcus' stare heavy on him, but he didn't dare look. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be wrong or right.

Now that Esca didn't have to think too much about what he was doing, his mind began to wander back to Marcus in his almost-naked state. He smelled of the generic soap he liked to use. Body heat was pouring from him after that hot shower, and Esca had to consciously stop himself from leaning in anymore.

When the bandage ran out, Esca almost regretted being done so quickly. He used the clip things to fasten it.

Marcus smiled at him. His face was so close, it was starting to blur. "Thanks." Esca didn't realize Marcus was kissing him until he heard himself gasp in surprise. Marcus seemed to hear it too and quickly backed away, a blush blooming on his cheeks. "Sorry! I didn't--"

Esca surged forward, pressing his lips against Marcus, who gave his own gasp of surprise. Marcus fell back onto the couch, and Esca needed to straddle Marcus, his knees sinking into the cushions, to keep their contact. It didn't take long for Marcus to kiss back.

He tasted like blue Gatorade. His huge hands were hot where they were slipped under his shirt. The rough feel of the bandage sparked Esca's nerves in a surprisingly erotic way. Even with the injured wrist, Marcus gripped his waist tightly, holding on as if he thought Esca was going to run away any second.

Not a fucking chance.

Esca wrapped his arms around Marcus' neck and leaned in. Even though Esca was basically the one on top, pressed against Marcus' warm body made him feel small and surrounded. Marcus' hands traveled up to tangle into Esca's hair, and he couldn't help but moan; he always had a thing for guys touching his hair.

Esca brought his hands down to Marcus' towel. It was pretty easy to be rid of, considering it was barely staying in place to begin with. He could feel Marcus hot and heavy on his thigh even through the jeans. He undid them and got himself out, too, because he would be damned if he was going to come in his pants.

Marcus moaned and rocked his hips up into Esca's two-handed grip on their cocks. Esca stroked them together. He was way too distracted to add any technique into it, but Marcus only kissed him harder. Esca came with a shudder and a moan. He could have felt embarrassed but Marcus followed him only seconds later, biting Esca's bottom lip.

Esca wasn't sure how long it had lasted, or how long it took for his vision to focus. All he knew was that when he did come to his senses he was wrapped around Marcus, who had his own arms around Esca's waist.

"I didn't think you liked me," Marcus admitted, his voice rough as it huffed into Esca's ear.

"Why?"

"You always stared at me, but you never did anything."

"I didn't think you liked guys." Esca stilled and pulled back just enough to see his face, which was completely blissed out; Esca could only imagine what his own face looked like. "Did you walk around without a shirt on to try and seduce me?"

"What? No. Not really anyway. Not all the time."

Esca could feel a laugh bubble out of him. He pulled back, and his eyes traveled down his well toned chest and abs covered in their come to their softened dicks still nestled together. Marcus was literally splayed out naked under him and Esca could only curse the fact that he wasn't sixteen again and perpetually horny.

"Maybe at first, but then you never did anything, and you didn't even go to my games, so I figured you weren't interested." Marcus sounded disappointed, as if Esca avoiding his games was like no one going to the games.

Esca leaned in again, brushing his lips against Marcus' ear. "Remember that one time I went?" Marcus nodded. "I almost came in my pants every time you were at bat."

Marcus stuttered out a breath. "Really?"

Esca hummed a yes. "I couldn't stand watching you handle your bat."

Marcus laughed, and tension that Esca hadn't even noticed bled out of him.

"Don't even get me started on you catching those balls--"

"Okay, okay," Marcus interrupted. He put his injured hand up to his eyes, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Esca gently took the hand away from his face and placed a kiss on the back of his wrist. "Your hand is going to be okay, right?"

Marcus grinned. "I might need a few more healing kisses, but yeah, I'll be fine."

"Good. The last game I saw, you guys won, and I'd hate to break that streak next week."

Marcus' grin was blinding. Esca was sure he'd have an even worse time keeping his erection down, but it was supposed to be chilly. Perfect baggy cardigan weather.


End file.
